Larry Cohen, president of the Communication Workers of America, i...

found that average U.S. broadband speeds were far below those in nations such as Japan and South Korea, he said. Upstream speeds matter as much as downstream, he said. Also on speeds, he said “we need to aim higher.” Broadband mapping should be the first step, he said, in proposing tax and loan incentives. “We see voice going forward as an application,” he said. Cohen praised the Universal Service Fund, saying the money could be used to stimulate providing incentives for private sector investment in low-density and underserved areas. He urged using the fund for new purposes. It’s critical that open Internet rules don’t discourage private investment needed to build broadband networks that will bring the U.S. broadband capability up to global standards and create and maintain jobs, he said. Only significant investment in broadband buildout will enable the country to catch up to the rest of the world regarding speed and accessibility, he said. Providers would be able to manage their networks and supply specialized service as long as they offer specialized services to all who want to purchase them without unjust or unreasonable discrimination, he said. Meanwhile, the vertical integration of Comcast and NBC Universal -- one currently controlling distribution and another controlling content -- would give the merged company leverage over both in broadcast and network TV and the market power to control pricing of content on the Internet, he said. It clearly would threaten competition in the distribution of content and programming, he said: Content and the pipe shouldn’t be linked together.